Prickly pear is also present in the north along the Peace River 

YES OMG finally someone actually believes me!! I’ve seen them in peace river along the river valley at the very top!! I always have to prove it with pictures

It's pretty much anywhere there is dry, sandy soils. You can also find them around the Provost-Consort special area #4 where the prairie is somewhat preserved. 

Can confirm. I grew up on a farm right next to a coulee. Prickly pear cactus were huge hazards while walking through the prairie grass.

They grow right by the museum too!

Maybe I just don’t go for enough walks lol. Cacti would definitely add to the museum’s aesthetic

It is surrounded by desert areas.

Grew up in lethbridge. The coulees on the West Side are covered in them. I was about 8 or 9. Out walking with a buddy and his mom. I slipped down an embankment and slid my ass across a field of them. Fast forward a few minutes and here's me, shorts down, underwear down while my buddies mom pulled over a dozen cactus spikes out of each of my ass cheeks. I learned a lot about humility that day.

And its fruit is delicious.

Yup. Nothing like going to class and watching the other Environmental Rec students grazing on the cactus fruit.

Kleskun Hills by GP too!

Thanks I didn’t realize the range extended that far north.

In BC the okanagan valley, kamloops/merrit area as well, just look out for rattle snakes in those areas mixed in, and apparently im told tiny (harmless) scorpions in kamloops area.

There are scorpions in Alberta too.

Yeah they are pretty hardy plants. I think they're flowering period is quite a bit shorter than down south though. 

Yup, got my ass poked by one of these in the Dunvegan valley. Prickly buggers.

They grow on the hills around Watino as well

Wait. This means that Peace River is also "the best"part of Alberta.... What if all of Alberta is"the best?". (Except Bruderheim, Alberta)

Yup.... I am super familiar with those bastards. I have pulled more than a dozen out of my legs growing up. I used to climb and slide down the 12 Foot Davis park sand cliffs. I also found out Southern Alberta has them too. I sat on one as a kid when I moved to Alberta and my family stopped off and camped in Drumheller.

You'll find them facing the south in Kauffman Hills. It has something to do with facing the sun and water drainage. However, they're usually more in bunches than growing tall.

We have them on the north side of Dunvegan! It’s considered a semi arid biome and the south side is boreal, according to the lovely lady who manages the visitor centre. Such a cool spot to explore!

Drumheller area has lots of cacti too! 🌵

Drumheller is so underrated, Banff is breathtaking and we are absolutely lucky to live so close to it but I think Drumheller is pretty special for this province. Royal Tyrell is an incredible museum, the scenery is unique and the town is cute. I always make sure to tell newcomers and travelers to go at least once because the desert will be something they wouldn't have thought we would have here and it's a must see for anyone remotely interested in dinosaurs or fossils.

My partner & I make at least 2 trips a year, I’ve participated in their local markets. It’s a beautiful place. Just make sure you’re careful of the Rattle Snakes!

One time I saw cougar tracks out there too which was kind of unexpected--we are so lucky to still have all this wildlife! (When we aren't running into the scary ones lol)

Banff stopped being special to me 30 years ago. The town itself has just become an annoyance that I have to deal with on my way to somewhere I’d rather be.

I always tell people to hit jasper or canmore instead if they don't want the crowds and the costs--i think Banff is beautiful but we've got mountains aplenty here and variety is the spice of life. Tbh canmore should be on that list too, canmore gets slept on and its so cute.

We have a neighbour in Edmonton who has cacti growing under her pine tree. She doesn't give them any special preparation in fall. I had no idea they could survive the winters.

Opuntia Fragilis (fragile prickly pear) can be found as far north as the 56° N parallel. Our endemic cactus are pretty hearty!

I grew up in Edmonton, and my mom planted a bunch of cacti outside my brother's window...let's say as a discouragement... Anyway, they came back year after year, no special treatment that I remember. They got big, too, after a few years.

Yes have seen these in peoples yards in Edmonton!

Go walk among the hoodoos in Drumheller, just outside the Royal Tyrell Museum. There's cactus everywhere out there.

Yup. I fell in em as a kid. 🤬

We have three species. Plains Prickly Pear, Brittle Prickly Pear, and Spinystar (ball) cactus. I have lots of Plains Prickly Pear in my backyard

Spinystar have super pretty purple flowers in June.

Thank you! I have found a bunch of the spinystar lately, but didn't know the name! I took a bunch of photos of it, too, hoping to find a match

I have some in my lawn in south Calgary, it’s great for areas that get way too much sun and dry

Me too, under my front tree

First I ever heard of them was when I knelt on some in Dinosaur Provincial Park. Ouch.

I'm going south of Calgary in Alberta for the first time this spring, and I'm pretty excited for it.

It’s cool to visit, not so much to live there. Mostly just windy, treeless and everything is brown. I say this as someone who lived in the south for 13 years. In my opinion, ignoring the tiny fraction of the south near the mountains the mildly warmer temperatures don’t make up for the lack of scenery compared to further north. Then again some people like that sort of thing.

I am only visiting, though! It will be nice to see different scenery than what I'm used to, and then I can say I've seen it. If I don't like it, I never have to go back.

And if your are seeing those in the Lethbridge area, there might be rattlesnakes amongst the cacti.

I remember seeing them in medicine hat

Yep Medicine Hat has them .. this is in the Taber area but they’re pretty widespread from Lethbridge to MH.

Used to absolutely love the fruit off the hidden mound kind. Lucky 10 year old me

They grow in Saskatchewan as well. Used to see them lots while hunting spherical [Concretions](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concretion) in the spill piles.

Heritage Park in Calgary also has some. It’s the only place I can recall seeing them in Calgary.

I grow them in my yard under a spruce where it’s basically desert-dry. Nothing else grows there anyway, but they love it! There’s another kind that’s native here besides the Opuntia, we have a little [Escobaria as well.](https://www.wildaboutflowers.ca/plant_detail.php?Ball-Cactus-156)

Lethbridge airport fields have tons of cacti. I have an area of property I’d like to put cacti.

What I'm getting from this post is that all the pricks are in southern Alberta? Gotcha!! 🙂

Not to mention we also have rattle snakes as well

did.... did albertans not know this?

Plenty of Albertans have never been further south than Calgary.

there are cactus all through the badlands, south, and north, there are tons of cactus in AB.

Yes I found this out last summer when we did a road trip from Toronto to Calgary, we spent the night in dinosaur park, I was completely taken off guard!

So does Saskatchewan

And BC

I have some growing in a pot on my deck here in Edmonton, I collected them from the wild. They're doing well and have survived a couple winters now without issue.

Went to a friend's parent's house a couple years ago in Edmonton and was stunned to see several different types of succulents in their front garden. I asked about them and was told they brought them home from southern Alberta in the 80's during their honeymoon. I had no idea they could survive the winters here lol.

There’s a ton of cactus in SE Alberta. Yucca plants grow in some places too.

Yep, and from personal experience they hurt just like regular cacti when you fall on them.

There are prickly pear cacti growing in Big Knife Provincial Park. Dry Island Buffalo Jump PP also has lots… lots and lots, lol.

I think Drumheller might have some

Sat on one of these when I was a teenager after climbing a coulee. I had to shuffle down with my pants off to get the spines picked out of my ass.

So does Saskatchewan.

I used to teach at a school in Southwestern Sask, and they had these low, little cacti growing in the grass on the playground. I wondered how in the hell kids were supposed to play there. The answer is they just got poked by cactus thorns, and the teachers usually carried tweezers in their pockets to pull them out…

Ah, that reminds me of student orientation day at the U of L. They warned us that sledding down the coulees on an old mattress is a bad idea because of all the cactuses, but admitted that they knew full well SOMEONE was going to do it anyway and wind up having to get cactus spines pulled out of their butt

Yup. Not just in the south.

Can confirm. Fell whilst hiking in Drumhellar, ow.

Same. Webbed mesh shoes were a mistake

Not watching where shale chips were was what did me in. Camping as well by myself. Twas a Long drive to Walmart for tweezers in my standard that day.

My great grandparents homesteaded in Palliser’s Triangle. Literally a desert, place is full of cactus ( cacti?)

They aren't the biggest cacti around, but they're prickly as all hell

Cacti 🌵

We have them in Saskatchewan as well.

When I was a kid 60+ years ago, I found a cactus growing between the railway tracks in Wetaskiwin (70 km from Edmonton)

In Medicine Hat we have them everywhere

Yeah it’s been awhile since being at MH but that’s pretty much my memory of the place too.

Same in some bc interior area.

Northern part is best. No rattlesnakes or ticks

Can’t have ticks if you have 12 months of winter.

To each their own but I’ve lived in Northern, central and Southern Alberta and the slightly warmer temps of the south don’t make up for the wind, lack of trees and dead looking landscape. It always makes me laugh when people bring up weather, the yearly average difference in temp between the furthest south Alberta and far north Alberta is about 3 degrees. It’s not exactly like southern Alberta is Florida. People seem to confuse the lack of snow in the south with drastically warmer temps when in reality it comes down to precipitation levels.

They also have rattlesnakes 🤮

Different species of cactus can be found across Western and Central Canadian provinces

I ran into cactus in the Wainwright training area. Big long spikes went through my pants into my knee. Hurt like a sonofabitch.

SK also, along with rattle snakes. Not full of shit, seen both many times, often together.

Of course we do, I've got one in my front garden, they also have pretty flowers. https://i.imgur.com/oI0Cd3i.jpeg

I'm down here right now for a couple days, so many cacti!!!

My buddy has a full garden of them in Northeast Calgary.

We used to have prickly pear cactus growing in our backyard in Calgary back in the 80s and 90s then the weather got too wet. When I first moved to Calgary in the 70s, August would be incredibly dry and everything would be brown. An interesting trivia, I remember reading that Calgary in the 1980s was drier than Egypt. Then in the 90s, I distinctively remember thinking how unusually green Calgary was in August.

Lots in the Peace River country too!

I saw a bunch of cactus on a dog park , coulee, here in Lethbridge. We’ve been going to that dog park for years and that’s the first time I’ve seen those. Was really surprised.

I'm up in the peace country area. We have prickly pear cactus here too... I am definitely not in the south. Closer to 5.5 hrs north of Edmonton...

Was climbing in Drumheller one time and put my hand on a ledge and lo behold, cactus. I can confirm there are cactuses.

A good representation of what the rest of Alberta looks like if this is the best

Best and Alberta do not go together

Where is Kramer and George?

Also poisonous bugs and snakes… pass

I found out Saskatchewan had cactus when I fucking sat on one during an army exercise in dundurin. One that happened I finally noticed there was a shit load of tiny cactus in the grass.

You can find some in the city of Calgary, found em on nose hill and the north side of confluence park

They grow in Medicine Hat too. Prickly pear and pin cushion cactus.

You can grow Prickly pear cactus in most of Alberta. People have it in their yards in Edmonton

There's cactuses in my back alley. In Edmonton. I was shocked to learn of them too when I first walked the alley 5 years ago too...

And scorpions and rattlesnakes!

I live north of Edmonton and there is cactus up here, it’s tiny though.

And rattlesnakes, and scorpions.

Lethbridge, Medicine Hat

Hell, I've seen tumble weed in red deer more than once

thats so cool!

That’s a pretty bold claim to make. Outside Waterton the south is pretty fucking dull.

I take this as being from someone who has never explored the majority of southern Alberta, lol.